So Thirdpower is off on drill this weekend and he gave me the keys to the Trailer. I suppose I could try to scoop all the other gun bloggers with the latest and greatest development, but I kinda suck at that. I scoop kitty litter like no other man, but getting the goods on gun news before 1000 other bloggers post it first?

Meh, not so much.

So I’d like to tell you about my toaster instead. My winter home is the very definition of hodge-podge. Everything, the furniture, the appliances, the silverware/dishware was purchased at a garage sale. Lamps, chairs, tables and book racks were all bought second hand. Maintaining two homes gets rather expensive and so bargains were sought after with a vengeance.

My toaster is seriously over-built. This thing has to be at least 60 years old and I feel confident that I could drop it from atop a 10-story building at noon and still be toasting bagels with it at 12:05. It is ancient; if I didn’t own firearms, swinging this bad boy by the 2-prong plug would be my primary home defense weapon.

I marvel at how old and how stout this toaster is. If I flip it upside down I read an odd message…

Mansfield Ohio, Made in the USA.

Wow.

I know it may be hard to believe, but I’m a huge smart-ass. I have been known to ask the “helpers” at Walmart to direct me towards various items that were Made in America. I receive one of two responses:

1. Blank stare.2. High decibel laughter

That’s when I say, “Oh…well thank you anyway” and I walk out of the store.

Doing a little bit of home inventory of my Gun cleaning tote bag, I discovered some gold encrusted butt-nuggets.

WinOil(Winchester oil), Gun Scrubber and Sheath Rust preventative are made in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Hoppe’s #9 solvent is made in Overland Park, Kansas.Hoppe’s complete gun cleaning kit is made in Oregon City, Oregon.Outer’s Gun Oil is made in Onalaska, Wisconsin.Ox-Yoke Originals Best Dam Gun Oil is made in Milo, Maine.Protech bore cleaner is made in Memphis, Tennessee.Hoppe’s gun grease is made in Coatesville, Pennsylvania.

My most recent ammo purchase was 100 rounds of .380 to feed the PPK and Makarov. Made in East Alton, Illinois.

I have at least $150 invested in my grab and go gun cleaning tote bag and as far as I can tell, everything in it was made in America.

While I don’t find the absence of coverage surprising in the MSM, it’s got to chafe a bit at The Messiah’s thighs to have the one bright spot in an otherwise crappy economy be firearms related.

While auto makers were begging for bail-out billions, gun manufacturers were hiring and still had a 6 month back log on EBR’s. While Bank exec’s begged for cash, ammo manufacturers were hiring and adding entire shifts to meet demand.

The Messiah saw the coverage just as the rest of us did and sank his head into his lap knowing he couldn’t bring himself to shed light on the only bright spot in a sea of darkness. It ate at his very soul.

He searched for any good news to serve up to the masses to justify that his policies had a positive effect.

Yet in the end, the only manufacturing growth was due to direct opposition to his ascension.

Friday, January 8, 2010

It's easy to be a firearm owner in a 'Gun Friendly' state. You can go to a gun shop or show and pick up pretty much anything you want. You don't have to worry about arbitrarily issued licenses, ammo/gun bans, convoluted restrictions, or legislators doing everything they can to jam every and any ill-conceived law to increase restrictions in any way possible.

Idiot sports star takes a handgun not only into Wash. DC but a sports arena and pulls it out as a 'joke'. Needless to say a whole bunch of laws broken.The Brady response? Call for said idiot to use his "clout and prestige" to push for MORE laws.

Yes, these people are that detached from reality.

Update: In Comments, 45 Superman notes that alleged lawyer Dennis Henigan continues to promote the elimination of due process by claiming that the underwear bombers actions was a failure of gun control.

Not only are they detached from reality, they're just desperate. And the beauty of it is is that they know it.

Thought I’d share some unconventional wisdom given to me by my Father when I was about 10 years old.

“Always tell the truth.”

Well, that’s it; thanks folks and goodnight.

OK, maybe I should splain a bit. My Father, of course covered the obligatory virtues of being honest and all that crap, which is exactly what it was to the ears of a 10 year old boy, crap; but that was not his focus.

He told me that I should always tell the truth so that I wouldn’t have to trouble myself remembering all the lies I told to who and when and where. This would free up brain space to learn about crap that I DIDN’T think was crap.

This intrigued me.

I honestly don’t remember the exact example he gave but it went something like this…

Fred Flintstone calls home and tells Wilma that he has to work late.Fred then invites Barney and Mr. Slate to a night of bowling.While bowling is underway, Fred tells Barney and Mr. Slate that Wilma just called and needs him home immediately but that they should stay and enjoy the evening since the lane is already paid for.Fred then goes and has a raunchy 3-way with Betty and The Great Gazoo.Dino happens to be taking a dump in the side yard and witnesses some rather delicate moments through the window.

All is well and good until people start talking to each other.

Wilma asks Mr. Slate why Fred had to work late.Mr. Slate asks Wilma what the emergency was that prevented him from finally beating Fred in 5 consecutive frames.The lane jockey behind the counter wants to know who’s going to pay for the night of bowling.The Great Gazoo has filled his space helmet with ice and is resting his junk in it while muttering something about being from the future and that it’s no big deal.Barney is curious as to why Betty is walking all funny and Dino is asking EVERYBODY why they call it a Dirty Sanchez.

Hilarity ensues.

So what in the hell is this brain fart doing on a gun blog?

The Brady Bunch has told so many lies in the past that no matter what they say now or in the future, even if it’s the TRUTH, will directly contradict something they have said previously.

Ban handguns because they are small.Ban .50 cals because they are large.Ban so- called “assault rifles” because they are medium sized and fire what is clearly defined even by the ebil gun lobby as an intermediate cartridge.Please note that according to the antis, all 3 categories of weapons are “the preferred choice for criminals and terrorists” simultaneously.

We support a Federal “Assault Weapon Ban”.We think individual States and Cities should be able to enact their own gun policies.

Guns are useless for self defense.If attacked, call armed cops to come and defend you.Gun free zones keep people safe.Look at all the mass shootings at schools!!!!!!!!!! Here’s where I dance a little jig and touch my naughty place.

There’s maybe kinda sorta probably 1 or 2 other examples I’ve missed, but I hope my first point is made.

But that is not my focus.

All is well and good for the antis until we start talking to each other, to the antis themselves, to the neutrals nervously chaffing themselves on the fence, the dying main stream media and to our Dear Congress Critters.

It has almost become cliché’ to say that we are a community, but that really does fit us best.

The antis wish to portray us as some sort of collective Borg mentality incapable of independent thought from the hive, but our very presence, our own individuality adds one more chink in their armor of hypocrisy. All must choose their own path.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

The 'Oak Park Citizens Committee for Handgun Control' filed a brief in support of Chicago. This is the group that pushed for the Oak Park handgun ban , after a murder of a Oak Park resident IN CHICAGO, which will also be effected by this case. Apparently they've done nothing else in the last 25 years. The 'Chairman' is a Chicago based lawyer and the contact info for the group is also in Chicago. All signatories are either DC or Chicago based.

My guess? There are no 'volunteer Oak Park residents' of this group anymore. This is just another group pretending to be 'grassroots' while in reality has no such basis.

Their claim that "Since enactment of the ban in 1984, crime has gone down in the community...," is, like most PuSH'er claims, disingenuous at best as their crime rate climbed until the early 90's then started dropping, the same trend as the rest of the nation. No surprise really. Dishonesty seems to be the default for most anti-gun groups.

Like the Chicago brief, the 'historians' briefs are trying to re-argue the Heller decision on Individual v Collective rights. The Illinois et al brief repeats "EXPERIMENT" over and over. Nevermind that w/ a murder rate of 5x the rest of the state where firearms are common, that pretty much shows that the 'experiment' of gun control has failed.

And again, the numbers of states and legislators supporting the ban are a small fraction of those who support individual rights.

From the way I see it, we know we have 4 solids on the court. The 5th, Kennedy, would have to completely reverse his decision in Heller to rule against McDonald.

Nothing in life is guaranteed but this is looking pretty good for our side.

Update: Two more 'historian' briefs have been filed, one including our old friend Saul Cornell. I haven't read the whole thing but I wonder if he got his facts straight this time.

Being questioned as to the discrepancy between the Lightbringer's claims of having an 'open' White House along w/ having bills published for 5 days before signing them and his recent attempts to fast track the 'Health Care" disaster to his desk behind closed doors, Sen. Pelosi stated"

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

To join my fellow brethren in a righteous life and death battle against tyranny with the hopes and dreams of overthrowing the imperialist government pig-dogs!!!!!!

Well, not really.

To honor the sacrifice of our Founding Fathers who selflessly gave their lives and fortunes in forming this great country!!!!!!

Hmmm, nope…that ain’t it.

To recognize that in order to protect my Rights, it would be wise to exercise them?

Fooled ya, didn’t I? That isn’t it either.

Because I have a freakishly small penis?

While I don’t do a whole lot of side-by-side wiener comparison, my junk is average according to all the medical professionals I call late at night while standing in my kitchen naked and sobbing uncontrollably.

There are three very simple reasons I joined the NRA.

1. I get $1.00 off the admission price at gun shows.2. I get a 10% discount on ammo at a gun store in a nearby town.3. The magazine subscription.

There, the truth is out. I joined about 15 years ago and faithfully paid my $35.00 yearly dues with pleasure, but not much beyond that. Now I contribute about 10 times that amount each year in the form of straight up donations, using the NRA credit card, buying books and videos and the occasional purchase of merchandise such as knives or tote bags with the NRA logo.

I’ve even been known to buy a 1-year gift membership for the occasional anti troll. Ask Jadegold about it the next time ya see him, he just loves to reminisce about that one.

The reason behind this post is because of something Thirdpower wrote in his “Wishing doesn’t make it so” post just down thread…

“So in the mind of Thom, if you don't own a gun, you support 'gun control'? “

The Brady Bunch loves to point out that the NRA has ONLY 4 million members out of a population of 80 million gun owners. They tend to gloss over the fact that they, at best, have 150,000 supporters out of, what, the remaining 120 million adults in America?

Not all gun owners respect the 2A……………..Joe BidenNot all non-gun owners disrespect the 2A…………LegalEagle45 on HuffPo(check him out if you haven’t already).

The Brady Bunch also likes to lament that they just can’t figure out why congress critters are, uh…kinda gun shy when it comes to pushing more gun control laws. This is understandable on a superficial level. The dems have the House, the Senate and we got the Messiah in the White House with Biden, Holder, Hillary, Emanuel, Duncan, Koh, etc. I won’t get into all the anti forces in the czar brigade so this post doesn’t get too wordy. This is the dream team for Pete’s sake, and yet we are still advancing…and winning; while they must continue to consolidate in order to survive, fight for Joyce’s praise upon them and recycle arguments that were debunked 20 years ago.

My New Year’s resolution is to sign up as many new NRA members as I can.No restNo retreat.

The magazine subscription is quite good.

Admin Note: If interested, you can click here to join or the NRA button on the sidebar.

The VPC took a grant cut of $115K this year from their sugar daddies at the Joyce Foundation. Guess the realized that the Lightbringer's Chicago-style promises were worth those of a frat boy on prom night. Assuming no increases or decreases from '07, that would mean Josh Sugarmann and Kristen Rand are now siphoning nearly half of the total grant in just their salaries alone (what a sweet gig).

According to the 2009 grant list as of Dec. 10, 2009, the LCAV Illinois puppet group Illinois Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (ICPGV) is being merged w/ the Illinois Council against Handgun Violence (ICHV):

Thursday, December 10, 2009 Printable versionIllinois Council Against Handgun Violence

Chicago, ILAmount: $350,000Length: 12

For continued support of its public, media, and policy-maker education efforts to promote firearm policy reform in Illinois, and to integrate the activities of the Illinois Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence into the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violenc

Looking at more of the grants. Todd Vandermyde noted that Karlin's are going to have more on their plate as the States United to Prevent Gun Violence has been merged with the Freedom States Alliance (FSA) :

To support its transition following a merger with States United to Prevent Gun Violence and its continued efforts on behalf of state gun violence prevention groups.

It also looks like Josh Sugarmann (among others) is going to have to tighten his belt a bit this year as they're getting over $100K less than they did last year. That'll barely cover the salaries. But how much does it really take to do Google searches all day?

Whether it's the economy, support, or a business decision , this shows the condition that gun control advocacy is in as pro-gun groups across the country are expanding . They're hurting and we need to continue to make them hurt.

Last year we had well over 4,000 people attend. We're hoping to break that record this year. Buses will be available around the state. Schedules for those are being worked on currently. Make sure to keep checking the site.

On the federal level, we know that Congress is supposed to be an institution that embodies principles. In reality though, Congress allows the gun lobby to set the agenda on this issue. Bills supported by the gun lobby have consistently received votes while bills supported by gun control advocates are not even given as much as a committee hearing. What does that say about the process? The current situation shows that we are not hearing all sides and allowing for a fair and just process....

There are many times when I wonder how our elected officials in Washington D.C. can just sit there and only acknowledge the position of the minority – i.e., gun owners, but not the majority.

So in the mind of Thom, if you don't own a gun, you support 'gun control'? Poor babies. Your organization has to be funded almost exclusively by the Joyce's and has a membership that can fit into a couple of minivans while the ISRA alone has a membership of between 15 and 20 thousand. Gun control groups nationwide 'might' be able to claim membership of 150K individuals. The NRA has 4 million.

'Majority'? You don't even know what that word means.

In reality, they know that McDonald could very well be the death knell for their group so they throw out the 'let's come to the table and talk' ploy. Even with that, though, they can't help but poison the well:

Let people who feel that giving guns to all is the right thing to do come to the table.

In other words, anyone who doesn't support their 'message' wants to hand out machineguns to schoolchildren and violent felons. So much for wanting to 'discuss' things 'intelligently and rationally'.

Really Mr. Mannard, why should we bother sitting down w/ you? What do you have to offer us?